Many people wonder what should be done with Fortune’s bones, you could keep them on display or burrie them. In my personal opinion, I think that they should be displayed for many reasons. There is a ton of different knowledge behind them and there is a lot of different theories as well. There is so many different people that had the bones. There is added history since the bones have been to so many places and have been touched by so many people. They are real proof that in order to figure out the mystery behind historical objects you must use history and all of your knowledge.
In the text people such as the Porter’s had the bone in the family for many years, and generations. The story starts with Dr. Porter who was a doctor/ physician that
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Porter died, with Fortune dead in 1798 what was left was an excellent property costing $7,000. On the property Fortune’s widow Dinah, and their son Jacob. Jacob had the opportunity to become free after he turned 21, due to the new law stating that any children born with an enslaved parent after March 1, 1784 was to be freed at the age of 21. However, Jacob was only 18 years old. In the will of Dr. Porter left Dinah to Lydia (wife) and Jacob to Hannah(daughter). At this time in history documents there is no sign of what happened to Fortune’s other offspring, Mira, Roxy, or Africa.
In the 1700s the slaves were usually buried, but Fortune wants, nevertheless Dr. Porter persevered Fortune’s bones to further his understanding of human anatomy. If the bones weren 't display you would be missing out on all of those facts, but that isn 't even the limit of the history behind his bones. Despite a few injures, Fortune’s 60 year old bone were perfect to study off. Eventually the bones came to use for four years of the Porters. They would learn the names of the bones, for their earlier medical learning.
One Porter decided to give the bones to the Mattatuck Museum- Sally Porter Law McGlannan. For there many people created legends about the skeleton being a Revolutionary War